During a Charter Commission hearing a few weeks ago in Centerville, learned barrister Bruce Gilmore, identified as a former town counsel and member of a previous charter commission, was quoted in The Barnstable Patriot thusly:

During a Charter Commission hearing a few weeks ago in Centerville, learned barrister Bruce Gilmore, identified as a former town counsel and member of a previous charter commission, was quoted in The Barnstable Patriot thusly:

“I have grave concerns about a mayor (form of government as being advocated by some citizens). I don’t think Barnstable needs, candidly, injected into our process the possibility that the chief executive could be bought.”

In a COG blog on March 8, Gary Lopez, the local sultan of statistics, wrote: “(Councilor Harold) Tobey claims to be one of the late Paul Lorousso’s (sic) best friends. Ask yourself why Paul Lorousso would want Tobey as a casual friend, let alone a best friend. I believe Tobey is a bagman, and his voting record supports my claim.” Tobey has always confirmed the friendship but has consistently denied allegations of impropriety.

Gilmore’s and Lopez’s statements cast aspersions on political figures but neither present any hard, irrefutable evidence to support specific claims. What they do reveal is how distrustful we’ve become of politicians, misgivings fostered by those careless public servants – and that includes some in the bureaucracy – who have been caught with their hand in the till or have “given the appearance” of indiscretion.

Both comments do a disservice to those who serve with integrity, but they also open a theme worthy of exploration in view of what the current charter commission hopes to achieve – improved efficiency and responsive government.

From this corner, Gilmore’s remark isn’t broad enough, and is itself suspect. He could also say that we should not have a governor because he “could” be bought, or a president or congressman who “could” be bought.

And whether it was an oversight or a strategy to impede the pro-mayor proponents, Gilmore failed to mention that a town manager “could” be bought and that town councilors individually or in cliques “could” also be bought. For that matter, so “could” some lawyers, judges and policemen and just about anyone with a hand in public matters. Ask any lobbyist willing to confess.

I wrote several news stories for another publication prior to a former town council’s vote to approve a certain law some years ago. On the night the council voted, a businessperson who I had previously interviewed on the issue approached me in the council chamber foyer and offered me one of the bunch of envelopes pocketed out of sight inside his jacket.

It was thanks but no thanks … but I did wonder who the other envelopes were for and what was in them. It would have been futile to ask.

Then there was that clique of several councilors who took a vacation cruise with a developer who had big business before the council; and the building inspector who lunched too often with a developer with business before the town and suddenly was out of a job. It’s that “appearance” thing again that causes constituency suspicions.

Nonetheless, charter commissioners ought not enter this study with that type of biased, negative attitude toward those who serve and are paid well enough to do so. Many more elected and bureaucratic officials, including mayors, serve honorably than those who do not.

One might add that an unethical mayor can be rousted out of office directly by the voters but a suspect town manager, or one whom the voting majority believes is leading the municipality in the wrong direction, cannot, particularly if he or she is in collusion with key councilors, rendering them beholden to each other.

Then there is the matter of more effective oversight, which goes a long way in maintaining the code of ethics. While a council has oversight of a town manager, a mayor would also have oversight of the council, something a town manager is not expected to provide since he owes his job to the council while a mayor does not.

Experience shows also that being a councilor is a steppingstone to the mayoralty and thus councilors aspiring to the higher office of mayor are apt to keep a keen eye on their possible opponents, and vice versa.

At any rate, politicians whose ethics “could” covertly be for sale have cause to worry in this economy. With prices rising the way they are, who can afford them?